Chief Richard Akinjide is no doubt the oldest practicing lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria. In this interview with Sharpedgenews.com’s Editor-in-Chief, Oladimeji Abitogun, and South West Bureau Editor, Alaba Abdulrazak, the former Minister of Education, and later Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, who has featured prominently in Nigeria’s history right before the independence and also post-independence dwelt extensively on the Nigerian project and also on the issue of 122/3rd controversial theory of 1979, saying that he has no regret over that role he played.
EXCERPTS:
Fifty-one years ago when Nigeria attained independence, you were actively involved. You became a lawyer at the age of 24, and fifteen years later you became the National President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). What is the difference between politics of that time and now? Has it always been devoid of a rancor, divisions and bickering unlike we have today? What has your experience been as a Nigerian founding leader?
Politics without conflict is not politics. Politics means resolving conflicts. So, perish the thought that there should be no conflict in politics. It has never been like that at the time of the Romans; in time of the Greeks; in time of the Chinese. (It is the same) in India, in Britain, America, Ghana, Kenya, Malaysia and Singapore. It is true that I entered politics before independence and to be exact, I entered parliament at the age of 27 – on the 12th of December, 1959. So, I was in parliament before independence. I was in parliament at the time of independence and I was in parliament after independence. So, I belong to that unique group of Nigerians who with respect I would say saw it all because that thing will never happen again: to be there before independence; to be there at independence and after independence. And I came back from England where I studied law at the University of London and I was called to bar at the Inner Temple. I came back to Nigeria at the age of 24. I went straight into politics because the punishment which good people suffer by not going into politics is to allow themselves to be governed by the bad ones. That is precisely why I went into politics and that is why I will encourage and urge all our youth to go into politics. At that time, sky was not the limit – British prepared us for the independence, which we got. There was rule of law; there was the British ethos of parliamentary system that we practiced at that time. I became a Federal Minister of Education when I was in parliament. That time, the house of representative was elected; the senate was nominated but as a Federal Minister, I had the right to sit in both houses. For instance, the bill which became act of parliament and which created what became known as Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) was piloted by me to the House of Representatives and Senate.
Did you introduce the Bill?
I did and I gave the instrument. And if you go to the headquarters of the Institute in Victoria Island in Lagos now, you will see my picture on the wall when I was presenting the instrument to the president of the chartered accountant in those days. So, I will say that I was extremely lucky and I was in government at the (time of the) coup of 1966 when (Abubakar Tafawa) Balewa was the Prime Minister. I was in Balewa’s cabinet before the government was toppled.
How closed were you to him?
Very close.
What kind of a person was he?
(Prime Minister Balewa) was a God-fearing, very honest and a great man who loved Nigeria. He was one of those unique Nigerians. And to tell you the truth; the greatest disaster that befell Nigeria was the coup of 1966 because it was not necessary in our history. But the paradox is that when the military ruled for 14 or 15 years, they handed over to us through Obasanjo in 1979. I emerged as the Attorney General of the Federation and Shagari became the President. We were the two in Balewa’s cabinet and also emerging again fourteen years later when the military handed over. Shagari came in as President and I came in as Attorney-General and Minister of Justice. Since that time the history of Nigeria has never been the same since the military coup. The military who took over were ill-equipped to govern as most of them had poor education. Many others had background of extreme poverty. And corruption became the order of the day and since then things have never been the same. I am not saying that there were no honourable men in the force; there are those who are still very honest among them. I am not condemning them but you have no right to overthrow a government you ought to protect.
One of the reasons military always advance for overthrowing democratic leadership in the country has got to do with “institutionalized culture of corruption”. Was that a justifiable reason because right now you are also accusing them?
I don’t accept that at all. If you want to kill a dog; you must call it a bad name. That is exactly what happened! But I want to challenge anybody who will deny that the most corrupt government in the history of Nigeria is the military government. I will challenge anybody to a debate on that. Two, during the military rule; they had five coups against the military. Are you telling me that is justifiable? Are you telling me that the military are more orderly – are more patriotic than the civilians? I don’t think I should go further on that; you can draw your conclusion.
Back to the First Republic and Second Republic; some people in this country would see you as a stabilizing factor but some others would see you also as having your own unfair share of roles as divisive at times. For instance, they talked about your mathematical-cum-legal theory of twelve two-thirds in the Second Republic, and they considered that you emerged as Attorney General and Minister of Justice as compensation for that mathemagic. What is your view on that?
It is not a quid pro quo. I was not compensated. I was worthy of the office and that was why I was made the Attorney General. Talking about twelve two-thirds, you must remember that I only argued the case; I did not write the judgment. Why do you blame the messenger instead of blaming the message? There were three judges at the court in the first instance who heard the case and unanimously decided the case in my favour. And in the Supreme Court on appeal – out of seven judges – six said I was right. In other words, out of ten judges who heard the case in the two courts, nine said I was right, one said I was wrong. But the critical thing is that I only argued the case and did not write the judgment. They could have rejected my arguments – why did they accept it? They accepted it because I was right. And I want to reveal a secret to you. Myself and Chief Williams sent the particulars of the proceedings to London after it was decided by the three judges because Chief Williams felt that I was wrong and that he was right. We sent it to London where Clifford Charms was the solicitor. He gave all the records of the case to barristers in London and two legal luminaries signed an opinion that they sent to us saying that I was right and that the people holding contrary opinion to me were wrong. So here, you have two Nigerian courts saying I was right and three leading barristers in London; one of them was Sir, Peter Rollison who was Attorney General under Edward Hill and Charles Parrow Crusie. Like Peter Rollison and then another junior barrister saying I was right. So, there you are!
Any regret over that role?
I have no regret. If the situation was to arise again, I will play the same role like I did.
Was Chief Awolowo your personal enemy?
No, it has nothing to do with that.
How closed were you to him?
In fact, Chief Awolowo admired me. He was a barrister himself, a Senior Advocate who understood the Law. You go to court to argue your case. The judge writes a judgment before it. He did not hate me for that. It has nothing to do with enmity; I just played my professional role.
Nigeria at 51- how have all fared?
Badly. Very badly. You see, in 1960 when Nigeria became independent, the world community said clearly and this was publicized that three nations would emerge and join the community of nations like the U.S.A and Japan. Those countries mentioned were China, Brazil, India and Nigeria. Of all the four countries – only Nigeria has not emerged! Why? Human! India has emerged. Brazil has emerged. China has also emerged but Nigeria has not emerged yet. Nigeria is among the richest countries in the world. In human resources; in material resources but the question is that why have we not emerged? The answer is one word -human! The critical thing for the greatness of a nation to emerge is human. It is not the amount of Gold or diamond that you have, nor the amount of oil and gas that you have. Not even the amount of cocoa, palm-oil, cotton and rubber that you have. It is the human element. The human element in Nigeria is only 4% and material 96%. For those 4% have not being able to meet up with the 96% material element to make us grow. Whereas in Japan, only 2% is material resources; 98% is human resources. (It is) the same thing in America and even in Europe. So, the problem of Nigeria is human and the critical thing in the human element is leadership. Leadership is very, very important. Look at the way Malaysia has emerged. Look at the way all Asian countries have emerged. China has emerged. Singapore has emerged and go and read the book by Linquan Yuo. I have been to Singapore from 3rd world country to 1st best. Nigeria could have been the same thing but unfortunately we don’t have good leaders. Also, the military intervention really retarded us as a nation.
Any personal responsibility in all these?
I don’t because when I was in government under the parliamentary system, which had Balewa as the leader, we did our best. And at that time the sky was not the limit. Nobody would say that Balewa was corrupt! I challenge anybody to say that government was a corrupt government because we built Eko Bridge. I was in the cabinet then and it only cost us $8million. We also created South-West Ikoyi; we created Victoria Island. I mean these are landmark achievements. But now the more money we have got, the poorer we become. The oil and gas we have now have become like cocaine – like opium. The more you take it, the worse you become.
That administration in the First Republic; Okotie Ebo, a colleague minister of yours in that cabinet reportedly had more money than any other person and you said there was no corruption in that administration. (What is) your reaction to this?
That is true but you must not forget that he was a rich man, a business man before he joined politics. He was extremely rich. I challenge anybody to compare the wealth of Okotie Ebo to that of the military rulers who came in later. Okotie Ebo would not have had 10% of the wealth of our military rulers. You see when the military strikes they have got to portray the previous government in bad light.
Do you consider it spurious that you have to go into exile after the first military coup because you were also given a bad name?
I did not go into exile. I was abroad when the coup struck. I remained abroad and don’t forget that I am a member of the English bar at that time and till today. I was also a member of the Gambian bar at that time. I started practicing law in London and also in Gambia. I was comfortable and when my Nigerian passport expired I renewed it in the Nigerian embassy in London. Nobody was looking for me and nobody accused me of any wrongdoing. And when it pleased me I came back home.
Did you stay away because you felt that the military would come after you?
That is your own opinion. But only a fool would stay with a mad man holding a loaded gun.